podcast
Chance Encounters
The unexpected connections you make while traveling can change your life: from romance that sparks at 30,000 feet to unlikely friendships that begin on the road. Chance Encounters, the podcast companion to the hit column on CNN.com from Francesca Street, chronicles incredible real-life stories of unforgettable travel connections.
“I found the guy I'm going to marry on a trail.”
Chance Encounters
Mar 3, 2025
Trish Salazar and Aaron Toro connected instantly while trekking in Utah’s Bryce Canyon National Park. Within days, they were committed to a long-distance relationship and planning a future together. Then life took another unexpected turn.
Read Trish & Aaron's story on CNN.com
Episode Transcript
Francesca Street
00:00:00
Imagine you've just turned 31. You're single and you're fed up with dating. You decide to focus on yourself, on what makes you happy. So you set off on a solo hiking trip.
Trish Toro
00:00:16
In my mind, I had just given up and I was just going to be the single endurance athlete. I loved cycling, I loved running, and that was just going to fulfill me enough.
Francesca Street
00:00:26
That's Patricia Salazar, known as Trish. She wasn't looking for love. Not even a little bit, when she headed off on her own to Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah.
Trish Toro
00:00:40
Exploring on my own and being so happy to be in the driver's seat, not only of my road trip, but of my life. And so I locked up my bike and I headed out on the trail, and Aaron comes running up this mountain. Oh my God, he looks like a Hemsworth brother. He was, you know, tan and buff and, like, blond hair. And he stops, I think 'cause I said something smart to him.
Aaron Toro
00:01:14
Yeah.
Trish Toro
00:01:14
Like, oh, are you trying to be, like, the fastest up the mountain or something like that? And then he keeps running and as we walked away I'm like, gosh, like, what a hunk. Like, that'll be a good story later. And so then, sure enough, not like five, ten minutes later we see him again. And so I just hollered at him, Hey, are you single? And he turns around, and he's like, yeah. And at that point in my mind, I was like, oh no, like, what's my follow up? I was like, do you want my number?
Francesca Street
00:01:51
I'm Francesca Street, CNN travel journalist, and this is Chance Encounters, a podcast about the incredible connections we make while traveling. This week, lace up your boots and get out your sunscreen because we are going on a hike. We're in the mountainous surrounds of Bryce Canyon in southern Utah in the US. This stunning national park attracts visitors from all over thanks to its incredible red rock landscape. Among these visitors, Trish Salazar in the summer of 202. Also in the park today, that Hemsworth brother lookalike, aka twentysomething Aaron Toro.
Aaron Toro
00:02:39
I remember I had a conversation with my mom where I told her I was like, I'm just done dating. I'm I'm alone and that's okay.
Francesca Street
00:02:50
Like Trish, Aaron loved hiking, loved getting outdoors. He was at Bryce Canyon with his family that day, but he decided to go for a quick solo run before reuniting with them. And that is when he saw Trish for the first time.
Aaron Toro
00:03:06
It's the first time, I think, in my life I've been catcalled. She just yells out, you know, Hey, are you single? And of course I'm like, well, yeah. Single as a $1 bill.
Trish Toro
00:03:24
I saved his name is Trail Aaron in my phone, which, he's still Trail Aaron in my phone. And I said, okay, I'll text you never thinking that like I would hear or we would connect. And he went on his merry way and kept on running.
Aaron Toro
00:03:43
And I left thinking like, wow. Like, she's spectacular. Probably never hear from her ever again in my life. Because, you know, stuff like this doesn't happen.
Trish Toro
00:03:55
Yeah.
Francesca Street
00:03:58
Trish said goodbye to Aaron without really expecting to hear from him again. But then, only a few hours later.
Trish Toro
00:04:07
And I got a text message from him.
Aaron Toro
00:04:09
Hey, do you want to come and brisket with a stranger and his family?
Trish Toro
00:04:14
And at that point, you know, I'd eaten bar food and Clif bars for about a week and a half on the road, so I was like, oh, yeah, home cooked meal for sure. Oh.
Aaron Toro
00:04:24
I just ran into the kitchen and I was like, Hey, guys, so you know that girl in the green shorts that ran by? And they're like, yeah. I'm like, well, she's coming over and they're like, are you serious? I was like, yeah, like, do you even know her? Like, a little bit.
Trish Toro
00:04:40
And they spent the whole night just, you know, meeting his family and playing pickleball and cornhole. It was an awesome night. And then we were sitting out in the backyard just chatting, and this was hours later and he reached over and he held my hand. And the moment he held my hand, I knew I was going to fall in love with him. I've only been in love once in my life, and so I was like, I don't even know this guy. I don't even know his last name. But like, this is, this is crazy. Like, this is crazy. I texted my best friend: I found the guy I'm going to marry on a trail.
Francesca Street
00:05:20
So although Trish and Aaron had only known each other 24 hours, the connection was intense. After the break, they realize the true stakes of this whirlwind encounter.
Francesca Street
00:05:41
Welcome back to Chance Encounters. I'm Francesca street. I When Aaron met Trish on a hike in Bryce Canyon National Park, they opened up to each other and felt an instant connection. But it wasn't until the next day that Hiram revealed a pretty important fact about himself.
Aaron Toro
00:06:06
So I'm active duty military. I'm in the Navy. I didn't tell her.
Trish Toro
00:06:15
It's not something you lead with, apparently.
Aaron Toro
00:06:17
No, because, yeah, it's like, Hi, I'm Aaron. I leave in a week.
Trish Toro
00:06:21
Yeah.
Aaron Toro
00:06:22
To go gallivant around the world and do dangerous stuff. You know, here's who I am, here's all my time and attention. Oh, by the way, I'm leaving. You don't make attachments, because, again, the whole military thing is like, if you don't make attachments, nothing's ever sad. My whole life, I've been, like, very skeptical of relationships for that reason because they never work out. And there was just something about her. I don't know why, but something just clicked in my brain that day and that night where it was like, she's worth the risk.
Francesca Street
00:06:56
Trish decided this news didn't change anything. Even when she learned Aaron's military service was about to lead him away from the US across the Atlantic to Spain. In fact, she wanted Aaron to meet her family ASAP.
Trish Toro
00:07:11
And so I had to call my mom and be like, so I met this guy on a trail, I really like him, and he's coming to Tahoe. And she was like, who is this? I was like, no, really. Like, I think I'm falling in love. Like, this is so crazy. And she's like, yeah, bring him. Like, we'd love to meet him. But it was the night in Salt Lake that we decided to, like, really go all in. I was like, all right, I'm your girlfriend now. Three days later.
Francesca Street
00:07:50
Aaron headed to Spain while Trish went back to California. Long distance was hard, but they video called every day and continued to open up about their lives, share the ups and downs of their days. Within weeks they told us that they were falling in love. Trish booked a trip to Spain for September. That leap of faith back in July? It seemed to be paying off. And then Trish got some news that turned her world suddenly upside down.
Trish Toro
00:08:24
I had had an abnormal pap smear in the fall, and I went to visit him in Spain in September, and I knew when I came back I was going to have to have a biopsy. But I wasn't worried about it. I came back and I had the biopsy. And within two days they told me that I had stage two cervical cancer. And I remember just waiting up late that night for him to wake up, to tell him I won't be able to carry children. That's part of our plan, is to have children. If this isn't the path that you want to walk on with me, I completely understand. Like, I love you. You love me. And this has been fun. But I'm not going to make that choice for you. And without even a second missed, he said, no, I want you forever more than I want anything else.
Aaron Toro
00:09:22
Yeah. To me it just seemed like a no brainer. Like, I'd rather have Trish with no kids than kids with someone else. And there's nothing I could do other than just try to comfort her through a phone, you know, thousands of miles away.
Trish Toro
00:09:41
There were nights that I cried myself to sleep with him on the phone. He would just hang up when he knew that I was asleep.
Francesca Street
00:09:48
In order to target her cancer, Trish had to have a hysterectomy. This procedure would involve a long recovery time. Fortunately, Aaron was granted emergency leave to go home to the US and support her in person in the weeks before, during and after the surgery.
Trish Toro
00:10:08
Yeah. It was it was huge just to have that strength there. I didn't know we could get stronger than we already were. And then that happened. And it was. Yeah, it was pretty cool.
Francesca Street
00:10:19
While Trish was in the hospital, Aaron met her grandparents for the first time.
Aaron Toro
00:10:24
Her grandma takes me into the other room, and she gives me Trish's great grandma's engagement ring, which is a family heirloom ring. And her grandma gave it to me, and she's like, this is for when you asked Trish to marry her. And I was just sitting out in the rain waiting with that ring. And I knew as soon as she came out of the hospital that I was going to ask her to marry me. Oh, gosh. This is like 110% who I want to be with the rest of my life. I already got grandma's approval. So she got her surgery December 15th, and then on Christmas Eve, December 24th, I asked her to marry me.
Trish Toro
00:11:17
Yeah, I was laying on the couch. We were in matching Christmas onesies, and it gets down on one knee and I ask you to marry him with this family heirloom. And I could barely move nine days after my surgery, but I jumped up off of that couch so fast to say yes, it. He went back to Virginia a few weeks later.
Aaron Toro
00:11:42
Yeah.
Trish Toro
00:11:43
Found a house for us to move in to, and we got married in October.
Aaron Toro
00:11:48
September.
Trish Toro
00:11:49
Oh sorry, September. We got married in September.
Francesca Street
00:11:58
In September 2022, Trish and Aaron got married. The ceremony took place amid the beautiful red rocks in gorgeous Snow Canyon, Utah, not far from where their relationship first began. Trish took Aaron's name, becoming Trish Toro.
Trish Toro
00:12:17
And it was exactly what we wanted. It was in the Red Rocks in Utah. Our closest friends.
Aaron Toro
00:12:22
Six people total.
Trish Toro
00:12:23
Yeah.
Aaron Toro
00:12:24
Including us.
Trish Toro
00:12:25
Yeah, and we left out of our vows through sickness and health because we'd already. We've already gone through that. We know we can accomplish it so we didn't even put that in our vows.
Francesca Street
00:12:38
'Fast-forward to today. Aaron's left the Navy and Trish is in remission. The couple are happily living in Washington State, the perfect spot for amazing hikes. When they look back on how they got here, they can hardly believe it.
Aaron Toro
00:12:56
It doesn't feel real. It feels like we're living in a simulation because it's just ridiculous. First off, we were living on opposite coasts. We both happened to be in Utah in the same national park, same day. And then she was brave enough to actually essentially ask me out. Since then, it's been like five, seven years of a relationship compressed down into, like, six months. You know, deployment, cancer, moving three times, like, and we've just pushed through it all without, you know, a hitch in our step. And I feel so grateful for it and for her. It's still just surreal. Like, how did this happen?
Trish Toro
00:13:39
Yeah, my message from it's just like, be bold and don't be scared to not follow the status quo. That was one thing that we discussed. One of the very beginning, like, is this too fast? But, like, too fast according to who? Like, let your heart lead the way. Even if you think it's hardened inside. 'Cause I thought mine was.
Francesca Street
00:14:00
Thank you to Trish and Aaron Toro for sharing your Chance Encounter.
Francesca Street
00:14:12
'This is Chance Encounters, reported, hosted and written by me, Francesca Street. Dan Bloom is our showrunner and co-writer. Sofía Sánchez and Kyra Dahring are the producers. Dan Dzula is technical director and Matt Dempsey is our technical production manager. Haley Thomas is senior producer for development. Steve Licketeig is executive producer of CNN Audio. For more Chance Encounters, check out cnn.com/travel. CNN Travel's global editor is Barry Neild. Special thanks to producers Lori Galaretta, Felicia Patinkin, Graelyn Brashear, Grace Walker and Jesse Remedios. Jamus Andrest created the artwork for this show. We had support from Alex Manasseri, Robert Mathers, Joey Salvia, Jon Dianora, Leni Steinhardt, Nichole Pesari, Lisa Namerow, David Allan, and the team at CNN Travel. Wendy Brundige is CNN Digital's SVP of Content Strategy. Chance Encounters is a CNN Audio production. Thank you for listening.
